The Vikings of Cerberus
by Steve Phillips
Summary: Special thanks to Jo Asakura for the artwork! Wrote this for the "Mass Effect Big Bang 2015" challenge. It's a headcanon short story about how I wish the events of the Mass Effect: Infiltrator spinoff game could have played out.
1. Randall and Inali

Cerberus Sergeant Randall Ezno, sat in an examination room. He sat in front of his handler and close friend, Inali Renata. She was taking a picture of his eyes with an image intensifier camera. His eyes glowed slightly blue under the camera, but appeared normal otherwise.

"Well, Ran, it looks like you're adapting really well to these new biotic implants," said Inali. "Any headaches?"

"No," he replied.

"Vertigo? Hallucinations, strange voices, vivid dreams, anything like that?"

"No, no, no, and no. Next?"

"Any feeling that you might be possessed, like there's a little devil on your shoulder telling you what to do?"

Randall laughed. "Is that a serious question?"

"Well, actually, I came up with that one. But I'm serious. You should see some of the effects that these implants can have on a healthy mind, let alone somebody as crazy as you."

"All right. Well, not a headache, not even a hangover," said Randall. "I had some vivid dreams involving my handler, though."

"Smartass," she said, without looking up from her note pad. She brushed some of her auburn hair aside, and Randall could see that she was smiling. "I'll make you deliver on that. Just don't say that too loud around the other handlers."

It was the 22nd century, and Randall and Inali were members of Cerberus, an organization dedicated to defending humanity against alien races. Most non-humans, and even many humans, would have called Cerberus a terrorist organization. Inali, and especially Randall, would have said that "one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter." Cerberus was very well funded, with secret bases on several planets and space stations. Space station _Ares_ , where Randall and Inali were located, was so new that equipment was still arriving, and unpacked storage crates could be found in labs and corridors. The setting was utilitarian, and most people simply called it "the Barn." The chaos hadn't stopped the scientists on _Ares_ from jumping into their work improving human technology, stealing from other races, and studying alien races and their physiology. Cerberus was a like an invisible nation-state, willing to ensure humanity's place in the galaxy by any means necessary.

Randall Ezno was an infiltrator, a special operations soldier trained in stealth technology and tactics, and trained to hack networks to beat electronic defenses and penetrate secure areas. He could kill quietly with a sniper rifle or omniblade, or if things ever got crazy his weapons pack would allow him to switch to an assault rifle or even a shotgun. It also included a cutting beam, because if you couldn't get around an obstacle, you could always go through it. His biotic implants allowed him to attack targets with dark energy harnessed by his mind. For defense, Cerberus provided enhanced body armor that gave him stealth, allowed him to carry heavy loads, and fight with superhuman strength and speed. His medical gear could save a soldier's life from battle wounds that would've been lethal only a few years before, and

Randall had grown up on one of the outer colonies, hearing stories that taught him to distrust non-human races. He eventually began to see recruiting posters left by Cerberus sympathizers, and would quietly read pro-Cerberus literature on his parents' computer. Cerberus' promise to protect humanity, his family and other colonists like them, sounded like a cause that he believed he could be proud of. One day, he and his friend Jordan Jensen had joined several others to leave their colony and join Cerberus. The decision shocked his family and they begged him not to go. That was five years ago. Randall had made his way home twice, and his parents, though overjoyed that they had seen him, had quickly learned not to ask him what he did for Cerberus. They just didn't understand. He was proud to do what he did, even if it wasn't easy.

Inali Renata was the handler for Randall, for Jordan, and the newer members of Randall and Jordan's infiltrator team. Cerberus handlers like Inali were experts in bioelectronics, and helped the Cerberus scientists while they managed the introduction of the new implants to the soldiers. Inali also served as an electronic warfare specialist, and could help Randall and his fellow soldiers hack networks remotely during combat missions. On a few occasions, she had even joined the team in the field, and was one of few handlers who could say that she'd fired a weapon in combat.

Like Randall, Inali had joined up because she believed in Cerberus' cause to protect humanity, and felt as though the Alliance didn't look out for humanity enough. The soldiers and their handlers were forbidden from having relationships, and they'd been told that it was for their own protection. Cerberus probably wanted to make sure they were concentrating on their missions, and not on anything personal. Security was another reason, because the handlers always had higher security clearances than their soldiers. Inali and Randall had become close anyway, and did their best to keep it a secret. She had medium-length auburn hair, blue eyes, and a medium athletic build. She had a sarcastic sense of humor that cracked Randall up from the first day he met her.

Inali took out a stop watch. "All right. See that equipment crate over there? Use your biotics and lift it. On my mark. And…go."

Randall focused his attention on the crate, which weighed a thousand pounds. After only a moment, it was as though an invisible hand effortlessly lifted the crate into the air, about five feet. He looked at Inali. "Come on, really? Give me a challenge. At least let me throw this thing."

Inali made another note. "You got it into the air immediately. The Director'll be impressed."

"The Director's an arrogant jerk," said Randall.

"You don't know the half of it. One time, I swear that creep was hitting on me. I'm the only handler that he calls by my first name," said Inali.

"I'll kick his ass if he ever tries anything." No one actually knew the Director's name, and they only referred to him by his title. It was the usual thing that you seemed to get at Cerberus. The more important you were, the more likely that they'd make your identity disappear and replace your real name with some type of title, iconic image or nickname. Most of the scientists on the station didn't mind the Director, who saw him as efficient and generally fair, if a little aloof. Some of the soldiers didn't like him because he would occasionally show up during training exercises and start to offer advice, even though he wasn't around them much day-to-day, and never said how much of a military background he really had. Randall's longtime battle buddy Jordan had said only a few days before that the Director was smug as hell and not nearly as smart as he thought he was. Jordan really wasn't the type to mince words, and she'd also said that the Director wouldn't know assholes from elbows when it came to battle tactics.

"I'd pay to see you kick his ass, Ran, I really would," said Inali. "Okay, you can put that thing down." Inali wrote down some more notes, frowned, and looked up at Randall. "You're my only soldier who keeps volunteering for more and more implants. What's the hurry? You're starting to weird me out."

"I like the power," said Randall. "I also like being around you, and hearing somebody call me 'Ran'." Inali would only use nicknames with her friends, and was the only person alive who Randall allowed to call him "Ran."

"I'm serious, Ran. Sometimes I think these scientists are trying to sprint ahead so fast with their research, they don't know enough about what these implants might do. And you don't need biotic implants to be around me, you know that," she said. "Besides…the last thing we need is to make out and then get caught because you got carried away and started moving the furniture with your mind."

"I can break into your quarters, you know. You're not the only one in this room who knows how to hack a network."

Inali blushed and made a shushing sound at Randall. "Easy there cowboy, we've got to finish up. I'm sick of this sneaking around though…I've been looking into transferring to some other department, someplace where there'd be no rule against me seeing you." She began to collect her notes as they headed for the exit.

"You don't like bending the rules, Inali? Really? That'd be too bad. I'll take that risk. I like the challenge of staying under the radar." Randall was blatantly lying though; he was already sure that meeting Inali was one of the best things that'd ever happened to him, and there was no way he'd risk losing her.

There was no way that Randall and Inali could have known what was coming.


	2. Stalking the Geth

It had been about two weeks since Inali had done the initial walkthrough for Randall's new biotic implants. Since then, Inali had evaluated everyone on the infiltrator team. All of them passed their tests with flying colors, which was no surprise. Randall and Jordan's team wasn't the only one on the station, but they were the best, in large part because of Randall. Randall's rapid progress in biotic training had drawn the attention of the Director himself.

Randall assembled his gear and began to head for the hangar. The team had a new mission, on a nearby ice planet. _Why can't they send me somewhere tropical with an ocean for change?_ he asked himself. Besides the mission prep, Randall had noticed that Inali was under more stress than usual lately. Because she had a higher clearance than he did, she would only tell him that it was "because of the work." What was different this time, was that she was more than overworked. This time, she was a little upset, a little worried about something. He shook his head. _She always worries too much…it'll be all right, whatever it is,_ he told himself.

Randall went through the mission details in his mind again. Cerberus had learned that the geth, a race of intelligent machines, had begun mining some raw materials on an ice planet a few months ago, and had also established a listening post. It was bad enough that the geth suddenly had a listening post that was less than a day's flight away by shuttle. What was different, was that a lone turian was working with the geth. The geth tended to avoid other races, so it was really strange that an outsider was working with them, let alone having one single turian out here in the middle of nowhere. The Director wanted Randall and Jordan's team to knock out the listening post, and capture the turian alive. The Director also kept talking again and again about how the mission would be a great test of the team's new biotic implants. _Whatever_ , thought Randall. His job was to lead his team, not test drive a new brand of vehicles.

Randall grinned as he thought about their planning meetings. A week before, he'd begun talking about the mission as though the Cerberus team was a group of Viking raiders. He began to refer to the planet as "Asgard," referred to the geth as "trolls," and he referred to the turian high value target as "Loki." Much to the Director's chagrin, the names had stuck. The Director finally slipped up a day ago, and accidentally referred to the planet as Asgard. Randall was about to enter an elevator to the hangar bay when he heard a voice behind him.

"Ran! Hey Ran!" called Inali. She jogged toward him down the hallway.

"Hey gorgeous!" said Randall. He could sure think of worse ways to start a morning. "Here to see me off before we go and make the galaxy safe for humanity?"

Inali caught her breath and took out a handheld signal transmitter. Randall had seen her use it while making small adjustments to his implants. "Glad I caught you. I need to deactivate some of your implants," she said.

"Now? What the hell, Inali? Mission, remember? The Viking horde is taking off for Asgard in a few minutes."

"The horde is, what? Oh, right. I know, it's just that…" Inali held the signal transmitter up to Randall's eyes, and pressed a couple of buttons. An invisible light shone into Randall's eyes, and the display on Inali's transmitter registered the response. As she ran the transmitter, Randall's brow furrowed and he looked at Inali more closely. Her clothing was wrinkled, and her eyelids looked heavy. Her hair was in a ponytail, and some of that was out of place too.

"What have they got you doing, Inali? Did they keep you up all night?"

Inali didn't seem to notice what he'd said. "Deactivating…ok, good…good…" she observed.

"Come on, really. You look beat. If this is what they're making you do, you need to tell somebody, transfer out, whatever. They can't run you ragged like that. Hell, the last thing my team needs is to be in combat while these guys have you on three hours of sleep."

Inali raised her index finger as she studied the transmitter display, closed her eyes and took a breath in relief. Then she said, "Ran, it's about that stuff that I've been so stressed about lately. I really think these guys are moving too fast with your implants, and I think we all need to sit down and talk about it."

She had Randall's full attention now. "You want me to get the rest of the team up here?"

"If you have time, yeah. It's probably better if – "

The communicator on Inali's wrist beeped, followed by the voice of the Director himself. "Director calling Inali Renata," he paged.

Inali's lips formed a tight line in annoyance, and tapped her communicator. "Yes, Director, this is Inali, go ahead."

"Sorry to trouble you, Inali. Did you forget that you and the other handlers have a meeting with me and my staff at 0800 today? We're almost all here, we'd be very upset if you couldn't join us."

Randall rolled his eyes and shook his head. Typically smug, that Director. If anyone ever need to be tied to a chair and force-fed some tequila, he was the guy.

Inali looked at Randall, and then replied, "Yes Director, I didn't forget the meeting. I'm already on my way." She turned her communicator off, and then said to Randall, "Things should be fine with the implants, Ran. There should be no problem, and I wasn't even supposed to do what I just did. I figured it'd be better to apologize to those scientists later, instead of asking permission now."

"Words to live by," said Randall.

"Just make sure to bring Jordan and the rest of the team when you get back, all right? Come straight to my lab."

"Got it. Tell the Director we'll send him a postcard from Asgard." He and Inali quickly kissed, and she pulled him tightly for a moment.

Inali said, "All right 'Thor', I'll see you and the Vikings when you get back."

Randall nodded and smiled. He kissed her again, and then whispered, "Love you. Get some sleep." Then he headed for the elevator.

Inali watched the elevator door close behind Randall. As she heard the elevator start moving, she thought about the rest of the team. "Dammit," she whispered, and headed for the briefing.

...

As the team flew to "Asgard" for some troll hunting, Randall and Jordan made sure that everyone was on the same page. Cerberus intel showed that the ice planet had only one listening post. More would follow, they were sure of it. It was on a high-altitude plateau, which ensured that the geth's sensors would get as much sky coverage as possible. It was bad for security, though, and Cerberus would take full advantage of it.

Randall would be leading the team this time, with Jordan backing him up. The team also included four new infiltrators who were only allowed to refer to themselves by call signs until they had more mission experience. It was an unofficial tradition among the infiltrators. For now, the rookies used the call signs Slingshot, Aussie, Bowler, and Mudbug. The team would be outnumbered about four to one, but they knew the odds were on their side. They would have surprise, the listening post wasn't made for a heavy battle, and even a rookie Cerberus infiltrator was far better armed and trained than the average geth soldier.

They figured that there would be about 20 geth troopers, and a few geth juggernauts in command. The turian, "Loki," was probably an engineer who was sharing technology, or helping the geth make the most of their sensors. He wouldn't be much of a threat. He would probably be asleep in a small hut - temporary field quarters, for the only organic life form at the listening post. If he wasn't asleep, he would probably be nearby, in the receiving station for the planet's long range sensors. They brought tranquilizer darts in order to capture him.

They would approach the planet in two shuttles, using stealth to stay off the geth's long range sensors. Once they were near the planet, each shuttle would deploy a small satellite. One satellite jammed outgoing geth signals, tracked the mission, and scanned for hostile troops. The other allowed Inali to communicate with Randall in real time.

The shuttles would then drop altitude, and approach the listening post from the far side of the planet. They would fly as close to the deck as possible, to stay below the geth sensors. They would land a few miles out, and then approach on foot. Using their tactical cloaks, and after hacking into the geth's short-range perimeter sensors, they would be able to go all the way to the listening post undetected.

If the geth had too many sensors, then it was going to be a very short mission.

Once they were close enough, then the party would really start. The team would use sniper rifles to take out the geth juggernauts. Then Jordan, Aussie and Mudbug would confuse the remaining geth with a diversion. Randall, Slingshot and Bowler would then attack from behind, fast and furious. The combination of stealth, firepower, and biotic attacks would be too much, and the battle would end.

Finally, Randall and Jordan told the team that the Director wanted no one to be left behind, even if some of the team were killed. As much as Randall wanted to believe that it was the principle of not leaving fallen comrades on the field, he knew that Cerberus didn't want its one-of-a-kind biotic implants, armor, or weapons technology falling into enemy hands.


	3. Fire and Ice

Inali and the Director went to the station's Mission Operations Center in anticipation of the assault. She tensed up as she walked into the room, and saw three men already there, waiting for the Director and her. Their faces looked familiar, but she didn't know their names. She guessed – correctly, it turned out - that they were the Cerberus scientists who'd worked on the team's newest biotic implants. What bothered her, was that she was positive that she remembered seeing one of them exit a secured door from the station's X-1 research area. The door had a sign with the friendly words: AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY. Below that was another sign, with words in large red text that were less friendly: USE OF DEADLY FORCE AUTHORIZED.

The Director greeted the three men warmly. "Gentlemen, I know we've all been looking forward this mission. The soldiers can't wait to use the implants in real combat, either. During training, they've been like kids with new toys." He gestured towards Inali. "Inali Renata here is the handler for the infiltrator team that'll be testing your new biotic implants. Sergeant Randall Ezno will be leading the team on the ground, and he's one of the best infiltrators on the station."

Inali felt a little uncomfortable, but stayed polite. "It's nice to see you all here, sorry that we brought you here in the middle of the night. And you are…?"

The Director smiled and interrupted her. "They officially don't exist, Inali."

The two men closest to Inali smiled at the Director's comment, and the other one said, "Sorry, Miss Renata. It's an occupational hazard for us." Inali didn't find any of this comforting or reassuring. She thought, _So what should I call you? Tall, short, and middle?_

She said, "That's okay. All part of the secret world of Cerberus, I guess." She nodded and sat down at her console, and got ready to contact the team. Then she thought, _Well, I hope all of you nice people won't mind that I turned off some of your brand new biotic implants that you installed into Randall Ezno, the man leading this mission today, a man that I happen to care deeply about._

She looked at the tactical display, which showed that the shuttles had deployed their satellites on time. "Infiltrator team, this is _Ares_ station, do you copy?"

Without skipping a beat, she heard the response from Randall a moment later. "Hello _Ares,_ the Vikings are almost to Asgard and ready to pillage and plunder. Loki and the trolls won't know what hit them."

"It's good to hear you, Sergeant. So far the sky looks clear and the geth compound looks just like it did before. Jamming satellite's up and running."

"Thanks for the cover _Ares._ Starting nap-of-earth approach." Then she overhead Randall say a message intended for Jordan, who was flying the other shuttle: "Okay Jordan, let's do this. Right on the deck, just like we planned."

In her mind's eye, Inali imagined the shuttles entering the atmosphere, soon to face a shootout with the geth. _Vikings hunting for Loki,_ she thought. She thought of the team, and wished that she'd had the time to deactivate those newest implants for the entire team, and not just Randall. _I hope you Vikings catch Loki asleep, make short use of those geth trolls, and you get back here soon._

...

It was the middle of the night on ice planet Asgard, as Randall watched the geth compound through his sniper rifle. He was flanked by Slingshot and Bowler, who were doing the same. Their rifles were supported against rocks as they lay in the snow. _So far, everything's gone as planned,_ thought Randall. _God, I hate that. Now I feel like the other shoe is just waiting to drop_.

Randall and his group silently thanked whatever Cerberus engineer had invented body armor that could keep a soldier from freezing to death in a place like this. Randall frowned as a breeze blew some powdery snow against the front of his helmet, but then realized that he didn't even feel the need to rub his hands for warmth. Good. They were now minutes away from starting the attack. Their cloaks had been effective after they landed, and they'd had no problem hacking the geth's perimeter sensors. The plain was more uneven than they had first guessed, but they could still make use of the cover provided by some boulders and gullies. He wondered for a moment if Inali had dozed off back at the station, having little to do but watch the team move at a snail's pace as they snuck up on the compound.

They could clearly see three juggernauts. They were almost double the height of regular geth soldiers and were impossible to miss. The juggernauts lumbered slowly across the compound, and they had no problem hearing their footfalls against the silence of the cold, lifeless snow plain. He knew that Jordan, Aussie and Mudbug were on the opposite side, doing basically the same thing that he was. With help from satellite recon by Inali, the team had confirmed eight geth troopers acting as sentries around the perimeter of the compound, with sixteen more at various places within it. So they would be up against two dozen geth, in addition to the juggernauts.

Randall toggled his com. "Inali, still no sign of the turian?"

He heard Inali's voice immediately respond, "No sign of the turian. We're guessing he's either asleep in his quarters, or he's in the sensor hut. Still counting twenty-four troopers plus three juggernauts."

"All right. Mark your targets. I'll take the middle one. Sling and Bowler, you take each one on either side."

"Got mine," said Slingshot.

"Got the one on my side," said Bowler.

"Jordan, your team ready?" asked Randall.

Randall then heard Jordan's voice in his headset. "We're ready here," she responded.

"Okay. I want to take these juggernauts out right now, so your team will give them the double tap at the same time we do. Then you hit their sentries on your side and anything else that moves. Fire on my mark."

"Ready," said Jordan again.

"On my mark…," said Randall. "Five… four… three… two… one… Fire!"

The near-simultaneous crack of six sniper rifles fired by Randall's Viking raiders broke the nighttime silence on Asgard. All three geth juggernauts were hit on both sides by the sniper rounds, and were dead before they even realized that they had been hit. The giant machines tipped over and then fell to the ground with a shockingly heavy crash, with one of them almost falling on top of a trooper below.

Randall said to his team, "Switch assault. Cloak and move up. Don't move unless you're cloaked, and don't fire until I tell you."

...

Most of the geth turned in the direction of fallen juggernauts. Confused sentries had only begun to turn and look around as Jordan, Aussie and Mudbug opened fire on the geth sentries on their side.

"Drop 'em!" said Jordan.

Another volley of sniper fire destroyed four of the geth sentries within seconds. Other geth began firing in the general direction of Jordan's team but most of the rounds were nowhere close to them. Some rounds landed harmlessly in the snow field or cracked pebbles off boulders.

"Okay, they're going for cover," said Jordan. "Switch assault, cloak and move up. We'll use biotics on them first."

Jordan activated her cloak, and heard Aussie and Mudbug do the same. "I already know which one I'm going to hit," said Aussie. He sounded like he couldn't contain himself.

...

Randall's team hadn't yet been spotted, and they were easily close enough to use assault rifles. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Slingshot and Bowler as they used their cloaks, waiting behind cover as the cloaks would shut down and recharge. G _ood, they're keeping their cool_ , thought Randall. He had just begun to wonder if Jordan's team had stopped its diversion when he saw three geth defenders lifted into the air and then thrown to the ground like someone were towel whipping them. He chuckled, "Beautiful. That'll leave a mark."

Slingshot thought he saw movement from the near side of the compound that didn't look like a geth trooper. It wasn't. "Eyes on Loki!" he cried. The turian was running from the sensor hut to his quarters.

Randall said, "He's yours, Sling. Switch your rifle to tranquilizer – "

"Already got it Sarge!"

Randall watched as the turian made it into his quarters just as Slingshot's rifle armed itself. "Keep on him, Sling," he said. "Bowler, you and me hit their flanks when I tell you."

"Right, Sarge" said Bowler.

Randall watched as three storm bubbles of biotic energy thrown by Jordan's team surrounded a pair of geth that collapsed within seconds. The geth had formed a defensive line behind boulders, crates and gullies, and had begun to group their fire. He imagined that Jordan's team would be keeping their heads down now.

Randall toggled his com. "Hang in there Jordan, just a few more seconds…"

He heard Jordan's reply of "No problem, Randall" as he looked at the last four geth sentries, and the tension was killing him. _Turn your backs…turn your backs…,_ he thought.

The last four geth sentries left their posts to support the defensive line that was firing on Jordan's team.

"At their backs. Fire!" said Randall.

An explosion of assault rifle fire from Randall and Bowler suddenly filled the air and riddled the four geth sentries. Then they switched their aim to the geth defensive line. Two more geth troopers fell, then two others heard the new gunshots and begun to look in Randall and Bowler's direction. They ducked as rounds fired by Randall and Bowler began peppering their cover from behind.

"Biotic salvo on that line," said Randall. "Let 'er rip!" Randall and Bowler unleashed missiles of biotic energy which landed among six of the geth defenders, five of which fell to the ground.

Slingshot was still watching the turian's quarters, and was starting to get impatient.

"What the hell's he doing in there? Hiding? Destroying codes? Taking a shit? What the hell!" said Slingshot. "Should I switch to assault?"

"Just be ready, Sling," said Randall, as he fired again. Now they had the geth under fire between his team and Jordan's.

At that moment, it happened. Slingshot saw the door to the turian's quarters open, and the turian rushed out holding a rifle. Slingshot had just aimed his weapon and fired as the turian vanished into thin air, with the dart harmlessly hitting the door.

It took a moment to register what he'd seen. "Cloak!" yelled Slingshot. "Loki's got a cloak!"

 _He's got a WHAT?_ thought Randall. "That's no engineer!" he said. "Sling, switch assault! You and Bowler hit your cloaks and spread your fire. Look for him to kick up snow if he runs, and if you see him, you kill him!" He engaged his own cloak, and toggled his com again as Sling and Bowler began shooting where they'd last seen the turian. He noticed some of the geth defensive line pointing in the direction of the team. _They're telling Loki where we are…here comes trouble…_

Randall said, "Jordan, Loki's got a cloak. He's a damn infiltrator. We think he's heading our way."

He heard Jordan's shocked response, through the noise of gunfire. "An infiltrator? What are the geth hoping to infiltrate on this rock? Caves of polar bears?"

Randall toggled his com again, and said, "Inali, Loki's got a cloak. If you see him, tell us!"

The sound of a turian assault rifle cracked the air, with rifle rounds and ricochets flying in and around the cover near Randall's team. _Loki,_ he thought angrily.

...

Back on the station, the group watched the battle's progress from the satellite image, and overheard the audio too. The Director and the scientists' faces had turned from cheerful satisfaction to stunned shock. She responded to Randall's last transmission: "Will do, Randall. The moment his cloak shuts off, I'll tell you."

The Director stood up and walked over as Inali responded. He stood over her, and said, "I want that turian alive. Inali, tell that fool to hold his ground and take that turian alive!"

Inali was dumbstruck for a moment, and then relayed the Director's order. "Randall, Director says take the turian alive. Repeat, alive."

Through the satellite feed, they could actually see Randall shake his head after he heard Inali relay the Director's message. Then they overheard him say to Bowler and Slingshot, "Keep shooting - you see that turian, you kill him!"

The Director was angrily tight-lipped as he heard Randall disregard his order. Then he brought up a touchscreen display and quickly began to enter a series of commands. Inali was puzzled at first, and then grew increasingly worried as she saw the names of the team members begin to appear on the screen. Inali's skin flushed cold as schematic images of each soldier's neural implants appeared. _Please God_ , she thought. _Please tell me that I'm wrong about what he's doing._

One of the scientists stepping forward and said, "Director, this handler's not cleared. These implants aren't ready for a combat scenario –"

The Director brushed him away and said, "We are testing it now, dammit! And this is the perfect time and place to do it."

Inali's jaw began to drop as she saw the Director select the names of all six members of the team, and then enter more commands. Green indicators on the team's neural implants began to flash, for every person except Randall.

"Director, what are you doing?" gasped Inali.

The Director's focus was entirely on his control panel. "Just giving them a suggestion, Inali. They're fine. Dammit, what's wrong with Ezno's implants? Why aren't they activating?"

Inali already knew. _It's because I turned some of his implants off before he left on this mission, that's why. No wonder you don't want the handlers to have relationships with the soldiers._ She looked back at the monitor, and realized what she had to do. She made her choice, knowing that it would cost her dearly.

Speaking quickly into her com, Inali yelled, "Ran! Those new implants are a thought control device! Your team won't shoot the turian! Watch the team, for God's sake!"

Hoping to hear a response from Randall, Inali heard none. She slowly looked over her shoulder, and saw the Director staring icily at her, with eyes that were like daggers. The Director's finger was still on his touchscreen, pressing a mute button for Inali's com.

The Director togged his com line. "Security to the Mission Operations Center. Now."

...

If Jordan and the other members her group hadn't been in the middle of a firefight, they would have noticed the dull headache that appeared within moments after the Director sent his commands. Such as it was, they didn't notice anything different. At first.

Jordan was in the middle of sending another biotic salvo at the nearest geth trooper. Streams of blue biotic energy flew from her arm with a sharp hiss, sending the geth trooper down. Suddenly, strangely, she felt a strong urge to ignore Randall's order, and make sure that the turian was captured alive. She thought it was the dumbest tangent that her mind had ever given during a firefight. She shook away the nagging thought, and then fired at another geth which crumpled to the ground in a heap. She began to open fire at another target when she noticed Mudbug and Aussie.

Neither of them were shooting.

Jordan threw a rock that hit Mudbug squarely on the helmet, and yelled, "Mudbug! Aussie! Bad guys, remember? Keep shooting!" Both of them did a double take as though someone had just dumped a bucket of ice on them.

"Right, Sarge!" said Mudbug, and he returned to shooting.

"No problem, Sarge!" said Aussie, who biotically threw a geth trooper against the nearest boulder.

...

Randall had heard Inali begin to say something about the team's new implants, when his com line suddenly went dead.

He yelled, "Inali! Inali, repeat that, what about the implants?" A spray of geth fire distracted him. "Shit!" he grunted, and biotically threw the offending geth soldier end over end until it crashed into the ground.

Bowler and Slingshot were a short distance from Randall, and continued to spray the area with rifle fire. They were under good cover, and the turian hadn't hit anyone yet. For sure, the turian didn't have any biotic implants of his own. If he had them, he would've used them by now.

Randall had his attention focused on the nearest geth trooper, and concentrated on him. Suddenly the perplexed geth was lifted from behind his cover and awkwardly rotated so that he couldn't fire at Randall. "Peek a boo!" said Randall, who riddled the trooper with bullets from his assault rifle. Sparks flew from the trooper as it fell to the ground. He heard Bowler yell, "I've got Loki! Behind the boulder to the right!" and then Bowler opened fire.

There was no way they could've known that the Director's suggestion message would arrive in that moment. Randall continued to shoot at his own target, when he noticed that he didn't hear anyone else in his group firing. He glanced at Slingshot and Bowler.

Slingshot didn't move, but remained in a crouch behind cover. Bowler aimed his rifle towards the turian, then hesitated and ducked. Then Randall watched in disbelief as both of them pressed the switch that changed their weapon setting from assault to tranquilizer.

Randall glanced back at the geth that he'd been shooting at, and then threw a biotic storm bubble that finished it. Then he yelled at Bowler and Slingshot, "Don't try to be neat, just kill him!"

Bowler said, "But we need him alive!"

Slingshot said, "Sarge…we can't –"

The loud sound of weapons fire came from the boulder where the turian was hiding. Slingshot was crouching low, but he was a big enough target for the turian to hit. The turian had his rifle on semiautomatic; the first round weakened Slingshot's armor, and the second and third rounds went right through and penetrated it. Even in the darkness and shadows, even with all the noise, Randall and Bowler clearly heard the loud pop of the impact and saw the spray of blood from the wound. Slingshot's body jerked hard to the ground as though he had been pulled by an invisible rope.

"God damn it! Sling's down!" yelled Randall. He switched his rifle to full automatic and sprayed the turian's area with rifle rounds, pinning him down. Bowler was frozen for another moment, then pulled Slingshot over to his cover, and began to check his wound.

Randall ran over just as Bowler was looking at Slingshot.

"Oh Christ," said Bowler. "He's hit bad…"

Randall said, "Just treat him. I'll cover you."

Between gasps, they heard Slingshot say, "Sarge…I…don't know why..." Then he was silent.

...

Jordan, Aussie and Mudbug had almost finished the last of the geth defensive line when they heard that Sling had fallen. "Come on! We've gotta move!" said Jordan, and prayed that she'd counted the number of dead geth correctly.

Aussie and Mudbug, without realizing it, switched their rifles back from assault mode to tranquilizer.

Jordan saw the turian and biotically lifted him from his cover. The turian struggled to aim his rifle, fired at Jordan and missed, just as tranquilizer darts from Aussie and Mudbug hit him. Jordan unceremoniously dropped the turian to the ground. She looked at Aussie and Mudbug, and spoke in a low voice. "Tranquilizers? Now? Really?"

The two said nothing, and looked at their rifle settings as though even they were surprised at what they'd done.


	4. Now, They Want Us Dead

The Director and two of the scientists faced Inali, who was flanked by a pair of security guards. The third scientist was looking at the neural schematic for the team's implants.

"You knew the gravity of the secret that you just tried to spill, Inali," said the Director.

Inali said nothing, held the Director's gaze, and did not flinch.

"Do you know the meaning of the word 'traitor,' Inali?" said the Director.

Inali matched his gaze and said, "They're people. Our people. They're not some type of…puppets…for you to pull strings on!"

The third scientist interrupted them. "Director? Come look at this. The neural implants for Sergeant Ezno didn't malfunction. Some of them are turned off. See, there? And, the only people who could turn off any of the team's implants are me, or my two colleagues here, or…"

"…or the team's handler that manages the implants," said the Director. He returned his eyes to Inali and folded his arms. Speaking in a low voice, he said, "Randall Ezno. Really? I never would've guessed. How long have you and Randall been a couple, Inali?"

"You don't have need-to-know clearance for my personal life, Director."

The Director, annoyed, said, "I suppose I don't. But I can understand what you did. History's full of stories about scientists who didn't want to hurt their lab animals."

At that, Inali staggered the Director with a punch to the face that stung him like a wasp. In an instant, the Director saw a flash of light combined with a sudden, dizzying burst of pain. He was still seeing stars as his vision began to clear, and he saw that both guards were now physically restraining Inali.

"You…hit me…," he said.

"And you're bleeding," she replied. "And you, you're the traitor here."

The Director hissed at the guards, "Take her to a holding cell." As the guards dragged Inali out, the Director said, "I wouldn't expect to see Randall Ezno or his team again, Inali."

"No! NO!" shouted Inali as she was dragged away. "You piece of shit, I swear to God I'll kill you!"

The Director ignored her, and toggled his com line. "I need Network Security. We may have had a spill of sensitive data. I want to know everything that Inali Renata has been looking at for the last three months." He wiped some of the blood off his lip. Then out of the corner of his eye, the Director looked back at the monitor that was tracking the mission. The fighting was over, and all the geth were dead. From the mission audio, he heard the voice of Randall Ezno.

" _Ares_ , Inali, somebody answer! This is the Viking team, what the hell's going on?"

...

On the ice planet, Jordan, Aussie and Mudbug slowly walked over to Bowler, who was still tending to Slingshot as though he could will him back to life. Randall stood nearby, still trying to raise the _Ares_ station on his com line.

Jordan looked over at him. "Still nothing?"

"Nothing, not a damn thing," Randall replied. "Figures that it'd go dead in the middle of firefight. Inali was saying something about the implants."

"What about them?" asked Jordan.

"I don't know, but it must've been serious. She was yelling." Randall removed his helmet, walked over to Bowler, and put a hand on his shoulder. "Bowler, you've done enough. Let him go."

Bowler removed his own helmet, and his eyes had the thousand-yard stare. "Sarge, I'm sorry. All of you, I'm so sorry. I froze. I got him killed."

Randall said, "Don't do that, Bowler. Just don't. We've all been there, all of us."

Jordan said quietly, "He's right. Bowler, don't blame yourself. That was a bad firefight. You don't control it, none of us do. " She wanted to say more, but no more words came.

Randall began to hear static in his com line. He said, "Inali, is that you? _Ares_ station, this is Viking squad, do you copy?"

It was the Director's voice that responded. "This is _Ares_ station, Sergeant Ezno. Go ahead. I had to relieve Inali."

Randall spoke loud enough for the team to hear, because he was the only one who heard the Director in his headset. "You had to relieve Inali, Director? Right in the middle of a firefight? What happened, is she okay?"

The Director was calm. "I'm not at liberty to say, Ezno. Proceed with the mission as planned."

Randall frowned. "You're not at liberty to say, Director? What does that mean? Why was she relieved of her post?" He paused, and then said, "What was Inali saying about our implants?"

"That's enough, Ezno," said the Director. He paused, and then said, "All right. You deserve the truth. Inali was about to spill classified information, and I couldn't allow that. That's all you need to know."

Randall turned and faced his team, all of whom were looking at him as he spoke. "One of my team is dead, Director! Don't tell me that 'need to know' bullshit! We had this firefight under control, even with a cloaked infiltrator trying to kill us. Then all of a sudden my com line goes down and everything gets crazy. What was Inali trying to tell me?"

The Director interrupted him, his voice rising. "Handling the situation? Far from it, Sergeant. You panicked. You were about to kill a high-value target."

Randall remembered a moment from the battle, and his brow furrowed. "Yes, Director. You're right. I gave orders to kill your high value target. And then Inali told me, and only me, that you wanted us to take him alive. Then out of the blue, right in the middle of a firefight…" He paused as he remembered the sight of Bowler and Slingshot switching their weapons back to tranquilizer. Then he continued, "…for no reason at all, people began to disobey my order and follow yours."

Aussie spoke up next. "Sarge…it wasn't just them. It was all of us. All of us rookies, we all did it."

Mudbug joined him. "I swear, I switched over to tranq him, and it was like I didn't even know that I'd done it."

Jordan looked at the rookies, and then said to Randall, "Make that five of us. During the fight, I swear, after you gave that order to kill the turian, I would have done it no problem. But then for just a second, I got this crazy feeling in my gut that I needed to save him no matter what."

A moment passed, with no one speaking. Randall covered the mike to his com. He said to the team, "Inali turned off some of my implants right before we left the station. She wanted to do it for all of us, but the Director called her away." He looked each of them in the eye, and then asked, "Listen to me real carefully, all of you. Remember Inali's questions. Does anybody here have a headache? Or feel like you've got a little devil on your shoulder that's telling you what to do?"

Jaws dropped all around. Then Bowler looked at the body of Slingshot. "Holy shit," he said.

Randall spoke angrily into his com. "What the hell are these implants doing to me and my team, Director? I swear to God, when we get back to the station, every single fighter on that station is going to want answers from you. The Illusive Man will have your head on a pike!"

...

Back on the station, the Director grit his teeth, and looked at the five soldiers on the monitor. One of them – it might have been Aussie – was giving the Cerberus satellite an obscene gesture. He looked over his shoulder at the three scientists, who were uncomfortably watching the scene. The Director muted his com line.

"You should go," he said to the scientists. They needed little prompting.

The Director unmuted his com line, and finally said, "The Illusive Man knows all about the implants, Ezno. They were his idea. If you and your team approach this station, I will blow your shuttles out of the sky. And I'm so glad that your mission parameters including blowing up the geth's long-range transmitter. No long-range calls for help for you and your team. And even if you did have a good transmitter, those shuttles have a limited power supply, and you'd all freeze to death by the time help arrived. Enjoy 'Asgard,' Sergeant Ezno. It's your new home." Then he cut the transmission off.

...

"He's marooned us," said Randall. "He said…this is a quote, guys…that they'll blow us out of the sky if we try to come back."

No one said a word. The place was dead silent, with only the sound of the wind, and fires still burning from the nearby wreckage of the geth compound.

"What the fuck…," said Jordan. "We were fighting on _their_ side just a minute ago. And now they want us dead?"

Bowler put his hand on his face. "These implants we all have…in our heads…"

Aussie continued, "...they're in our nervous systems, our brains…"

Mudbug kicked the ground and sent some snow flying. "Well hey, what the hell, we agreed to let them wire us up, why the hell shouldn't Cerberus treat us like robots?"

"All right, that's enough," said Randall. "Bring it in and listen up."

Jordan said, "Tell me…just tell me you have an idea."

Randall said, "I have a couple of ideas, but they're crazy."

Aussie said, "Crazy ideas are the best kind, Sarge."

Randall continued, "We'll have to move fast. They'll only keep Inali alive long enough to find out just how much she's figured out, and who else might know, and where they need to cover up. After that, they'll quietly make her disappear. We've got maybe a day tops, no more than that. I can think of a few ways that we could take this on…but first, we know that the Director can get inside our heads. In the middle of all this, if anybody gets headaches, or a gut feeling that tells you to hold your fire or shoot each other -"

Bowler said, "Christ, I hadn't thought of that."

Jordan said, "Right. But I was able to fight it off during the battle. So that means we all can. They can get inside our heads, but they can't pull all of the strings. Everybody, just do your job and tell that little voice to shut up. Talk over it, sing a song, say a prayer, do something, just focus on what you need to do."

When Randall saw that the team was in agreement, he continued. This time, he chose his words very carefully. "This next part will be tough," he began. Then he took a breath. "When we're on the station, the Director will probably send a lot of mechs after us. Mechs follow orders. They don't ask questions. But sooner or later, we're going to see troops. They'll think we're traitors, or we've just plain gone crazy, or God knows what. But they'll be fighting us, trying to stop us. Some of them will be people you've met. People you know. Trained with, fought alongside, eaten with. We can't let them stop us. Especially the other infiltrator squads. The Director's already implanted them, so you know he'll tell them to shoot first and ask questions later."

It took a moment for Randall's words to sink in with the team. Jordan lowered her head in resignation. Bowler said, "I'm going to be sick," and Mudbug shifted uncomfortably where he stood. Aussie pensively rubbed his chin, and said, "I don't know if we can do this, Sarge."

Randall continued, "Me personally, I'm going to try… _try_ , as much as I can…not to kill our own people, unless I have to. I know how hard I can throw somebody with my biotics, and I'm going to try to ease up. I know how many missiles I can throw in a biotic salvo, and I won't throw them all at the same guy. If I have to shoot somebody, and _if_ I can get him in the arm or the shoulder, I'll do it. For the rest of you, it's up to you. We're all risking our lives here, I won't judge anybody on this one."

"We've got our cloaks too, and the fighting will be in close quarters if we make it off the hangar," said Jordan. "That'll help. Maybe that'll buy us time to pick our targets, maybe get up close and knock guys senseless."

Aussie said, "You know what? Hell…mechs don't ask questions, but people sure do. If I get the chance, I'm going to yell across the room at whoever I'm shooting at, I'm going to tell that guy the real story behind why we're fighting. There are troops on that station who won't believe, who'd never believe that we're traitors. If we can make them stop and think for just a second…well, you never know."

Randall nodded. "All right then. Here's how I see it." He explained their options, as he saw them. No one on the team liked their chances.

...

Hours later, the team was working on their infiltrator shuttles. The sun had risen, and shone brightly on the snow-covered landscape. The turian was still unconscious, and was laying between a pair of thermal blankets nearby. The team had taken his rifle and removed his tactical cloak. Smoke from the wreckage of the geth compound hung in the air over the horizon.

Randall said, "I think maybe we can improve the stealth another ten percent. But past that, we're wasting our time."

Jordan said, "Well at least it's something. Maybe we'll get lucky and Cerberus will send a cargo run. We could fly close to one of those big unmanned cargo shuttles and it'd swamp our sensor image." Then she added, "By the way, my headache's been gone for a while. I think those relay satellites we deployed finally ran out of power." Then she glanced around, and made sure no one else heard what she was saying. "Hey Randall…I know this plan didn't include anything about going for the station's prisoner wing…"

Randall didn't look up. Almost mechanically, he said, "We both know that Inali can handle herself, but the Director's got us over a barrel. For sure, he'll threaten us, tell us to surrender or he'll kill Inali. But she might be dead already. And if we surrender, we're all as good as dead. No way he's letting a single one of us off that station alive."

"We all know how much Inali means to you, Randall."

Randall stopped, then made a fist, and glanced at Jordan for a moment. She continued working, and didn't look back at him. Randall asked her, "All of you? You all know?"

Jordan stopped working, and put her hand on his shoulder. "How long have we known each other, Randall? It was easy for me to see. But I didn't tell anyone. Even the rookies started to notice it, though."

"Well I guess you can't keep a secret from anybody around here," said Randall. He looked back, but only for a moment. "If anything happens to Inali, I'll never forgive myself. I'm keeping it together, but this is driving me up the wall. I mean, Christ almighty. I can't do anything to help her, except to make sure that the five of us make life really hard for the Director. And that's if we make it that far. "

"We'll save her."

"You're damn right, we're going to save her. Or I swear to God, I'll tear that station apart."

"You mean _we_ will. Every last one of us. We're all her guys. _"_

One of the rookies, Aussie, had been watching the turian, and saw him starting to wake up. "Sarge! He's coming around."

Randall and Jordan walked over to the turian, and crouched down near him. Aussie left them, and joined the others in working on the shuttles.

The turian shook his head, still dazed from the tranquilizer serum. Then he winced and held his midsection, a reminder of the darts that used to be there. He opened his eyes, and saw Randall and Jordan. He suddenly braced himself, as though expecting that they were going to attack him.

A moment passed where no one said anything. Then Randall said, "Easy there, turian. We're not going to hurt you."

The turian said, "Easy for you to say, human. But you two are from Cerberus. You're less than human."

"Smart fellow," said Jordan.

"Who else would you be?" asked the turian. "The Hierarchy's suspected that you were out here for some time. Probably Cerberus ships are passing through the sector, maybe even a station. We were able to convince the geth to help us open a few listening posts, and this one would've been the first."

"So now you've found us," said Randall. "And we've found you. But let's just say that things have gotten…complicated…with my team and Cerberus. We need your help."

"I don't trust any of you. Why should I help you?"

"Because we can make it worth your while. And by the way, we don't trust you either. We have something to show you."

Randall used a holo projector from one of the shuttles, and the mission recorder from his helmet. He played back the entire feed from his mission recorder as the turian sat and watched. Other members of the team gathered as the feed played.

When the feed showed Slingshot getting hit, and then dying, a couple of the soldiers shook their heads, while others looked away. The rest said nothing.

Solemnly, the turian said, "None of you will believe this, but I am sorry. I was defending myself." After a moment, he began to look over his shoulder at the squad, and added, "He fought bravely."

Without emotion, Randall said, "We know."

The turian flinched as he saw himself getting hit by the tranquilizer darts, and put his hand on his midsection again. Then he watched Randall's exchange with the Director, and his jaw began to drop by the end of the feed. He turned and looked at the squad.

"Cerberus would betray its own troops, and try to control them like robots?" asked the stunned turian.

Randall nodded.

"And you have someone on your side, a woman named Inali, who tried to warn you. I take it that she's now their prisoner. And then Cerberus left you all here to die."

"Right again," said Randall. "She's on our space station, and she'll be dead soon, if she isn't dead already. We have a plan, and it doesn't require you. But we could really use your help."

"You have my attention, human. My mission was to find your station and destroy it."

"How about if you could help us capture that station instead?"

"For that," said the turian, "The Hierarchy would not only give me a medal, they would sing songs about me."

Bowler said aloud, "Medals and songs? We're in the wrong army."

The turian rose to his feet and said, "You have my help, human. My name is Commander Canvus Tiron."

Randall said, "Canvus Tiron…okay, whatever. My name is Randall Ezno, and you'll get to know the rest of the team soon enough. Just don't get offended if we call you 'Loki'."

Aussie whispered to Mudbug, "Did he really just say that his name is Cactus Tire Iron?"

Mudbug whispered back, "At least it's better than Mudbug. Never thought I'd ever fight alongside a turian."


	5. We're Going In

The Director was on the bridge of Cerberus station _Ares_ reviewing the initial report from Information Security, and from the people who had been interrogating Inali. As far as they could tell, she became suspicious of the implants on her own, and she wasn't a spy for the Alliance or some other group. Her suspicions were confirmed by the Director's actions during the gun battle. She was simply good at her job, she drew some conclusions on her own, and she cared too much about Cerberus' test subjects. The Director shook his head. He would order more hidden surveillance cameras and listening devices for the station. As if they didn't have a lot of those already.

From across the room, one of the bridge officers spoke up. "Director? One of our freighters dropped off an unmanned cargo shuttle, and we have it on long range sensors. But we have intermittent contacts. It looks like something is trying to piggyback the cargo shuttle's signature. At least one, probably two shuttles under stealth. It has to be that renegade squad."

 _There you are, Ezno. Coming back here to rescue Inali? How gallant. And futile_ , thought the Director. He said, "I want every gun with a firing solution lined up on those two trailing shuttles. Fire the moment that they're in range. And if that cargo shuttle's signature keeps getting in the way, blow all three of them out of the sky." The station didn't have many fixed turret guns, and was mainly designed to hide silently in the vast void of space.

The Director then said to another officer, "Are the sentry turrets and security mechs in the hangar bay ready?"

"Three sentry turrets ready, plus twenty mechs as you asked, just in case they get through. Plus others in the side corridors. But, no human troops, Director?"

"Only if they make it past the mechs. I don't want anyone who'll hesitate to fire on them. And I don't want anyone asking questions, is that clear? This matter is highly classified. The less people know about how this was handled, the better." He brought up the touchscreen display for the squad's neural implants again. He couldn't order them to open fire on each other – none of them would obey a message that was basically suicide. So he gave them a simple message: Hold your fire.

The hangar bay doors opened to allow the cargo shuttle to land. The moment that the shuttles were within guns range, the station opened fire.

...

"Shit!" said Randall, watching as incoming fire from the station seemed to miss them by mere yards. He knew that the team's shuttles wouldn't be protected by their jury-rigged stealth settings for much longer. He leaned forward and put his hand on Loki's shoulder. "Great flying. Just keep us in the air." Then he looked back over his shoulder at the rest of his team. "All right. Crash positions when I tell you. Once we're in, we cloak, we come out blasting. How are you holding up?"

"Got a headache, Sarge!" said Bowler.

"Son of a bitch. Me too," said Aussie. "Just got a gut feeling like I need to hide or something."

"Me too," said Jordan. "Right on time, that Director bastard." She squinted and tried to settle her mind. She began to quietly whisper words from an old classic song by a band named Dropkick Murphy's. She'd heard her father sing it years ago while working, and she'd asked him to teach her the words. Now maybe it would help her stay focused and keep her alive. She began to whisper, "The pictures tell a story…this life has many shades…"

Randall looked at the turian as he piloted the shuttle. "Loki, I'm glad as hell you've got a cloak, but yours won't stay on as long as ours. You guard the rear. And stay close to that cargo shuttle."

"Loki. What type of name is Loki?" asked the turian. "One day you'll need to tell me what that means. It had better not be an obscenity."

"Norse god of mischief!" called Aussie from the back. "Shit, this headache is pissing me off."

Loki spoke loudly. "Norse god of mischief? That's perfect. By the Spirits, to capture a secret Cerberus outpost and rescue a woman in danger? This will be magnificent!"

Mudbug said, "He's crazier than we are, did we really have to bring him?"

Aussie responded, "Come on Mud, what's not to like?"

...

The cargo shuttle was almost to the hangar bay. The _Ares_ station weapons officer looked at the Director. "No choice, Director. We have to take all three of them out."

The Director leaned forward at the tactical display. "Do it. I've been looking forward to this all morning."

At that range, the _Ares_ cannons could not miss. The cargo shuttle, and the two shuttles trailing it, were immediately blasted into a shower of flames, smoke, and wreckage. Three bright flashes appeared on the tactical display, along with a loud series of beeps. All three were directly hit, and then their signals faded from view.

The Director smiled. "Good. Now to tie up the rest of the loose ends."

An alert klaxon suddenly began blaring. The sensor officer yelled, "Proximity warning! It just came out of nowhere, I've got a _fourth_ signature at a thousand yards coming in fast!"

...

Everyone on the team, and Loki, flinched as their shuttle flew straight through the turbulence and wreckage of the three destroyed Cerberus shuttles. The turian yelled, "We're going in!"

Randall yelled, "Crash positions! Get your asses down and hit your cloaks!"

...

The hangar bay doors of _Ares_ station had nearly closed when a cargo crane, a fork lift, crates and security mechs went flying through the air as though an enormous invisible fist suddenly crashed through it. To the shocked eyes of the Director and everyone on the _Ares_ station's command center, a shuttle materialized in the hangar bay as it skidded to a stop.

Specifically, a turian shuttle.

Still more specifically, a turian infiltrator's shuttle, equipped with top-of-the-line turian stealth technology.

The Director and the _Ares_ bridge crew were still trying to process what was happening when the sounds of gunfire erupted all over the hangar.

...

As she ran, Jordan yelled, "I can't believe that worked!"

Randall sprinted alongside her and yelled back," I've never been so glad our shuttles have auto pilot!" Then he yelled at the rest of the team, "Speed kills! Keep moving!"

Aussie, Mudbug and Bowler looked up and saw the three rooftop sentry turrets above them as they ran. Thanks to the team's cloaks, the turrets were still scanning for undetected targets as the group threw a barrage of biotic salvos at them. The turrets crackled and then broke apart as the missiles of blue biotic energy impacted and destroyed them, with some pieces of the wrecked turrets falling from the ceiling.

Randall was still under cloak as he grabbed a piece of lead pipe from a pile of debris and swung it like a baseball bat at a nearby security mech's head. The mech's head flew cleanly off and went bouncing across the hangar. He said, "That one's for Slingshot."

Randall and Jordan unleashed a biotic salvo at a group of mechs that were between the team and the nearest hangar exit. The salvo flew through the air with a sharp hiss, and the impact was like sledgehammers hitting all the mechs, and they went flying.

Loki, under cloak himself, ran straight toward another group of mechs. He gleefully switched his rifle to full automatic, and swept it across them. They stumbled and fell backward, then collapsed in a heap. He turned and took up his position guarding the team's rear as they approached one of the exit doors.

Alert sirens began to sound all over the station. _That's just fine_ , thought Randall. _Once we're out of the hangar and into the corridors, their numbers won't count for anything._ He waved his arms to direct traffic as the team reached the door, and had them stand on either side of the doorway. Not surprisingly, it was locked.

"Aussie, hack that door," he ordered. Then he looked at the team and said, "Let's clear this hallway. Flood the length of the corridor with biotic storm bubbles. They'll have no cover."

Aussie began to smile. "After training for weeks to hack geth security? This is a cinch! Okay…got it."

A group of security mechs inside the corridor opened fire the moment that the door opened. The team and Loki leaned back as rounds of ammunition blew through the open doorway, and riddled the wall on the opposite side of the hangar. Then everyone on the squad threw a biotic storm bubble into the corridor, as though tossing in grenades. The deep rumble of biotic turbulence boomed from the corridor, followed by the sound of security mechs collapsing to the ground.

Jordan said, "That couldn't have been pretty." She glanced into the corridor, then looked at Randall. "Clear!"

The Vikings of Cerberus, and their ally Loki, sprinted into _Ares_ station.

...

"No, no, no!" yelled the Director. He looked at a Damage Control display, and saw new flashing red lights appear on the screen as there were new reports of gunshots. He also overheard reports from security mechs and guards under fire, and panicked scientists fleeing the sounds of gunfire, wondering what in the hell was happening. Then the Director's com line buzzed.

"Director, this is Randall Ezno, do you copy?"

The Director felt his face flush red, and noticed the surprised stares from several bridge officers. He yelled at them, "What the hell are you looking at?" Then he toggled his com line.

"You're a dead man, Ezno, and you've just signed Inali's death warrant. But surrender and I'll spare her life, and the lives of your team. If you don't surrender, then I swear that I'll have Inali thrown out of an airlock. Last chance, Ezno."

For a moment, Randall's voice was drowned out by gunfire. Then the Director heard Randall's voice again. "Right, asshole. About that. As for your offer, save your breath, we all know that you're full of it. Let me offer you a deal instead. We are taking this station, and you won't be able to stop us. Whether or not you walk away alive, and whether or not we lay waste to this entire station one inch at a time, depends on whether or not Inali is all right. And make no mistake, we are prepared to do it. Every. Single. Inch. Tell all that to your Illusive Man. And by the way, your scientists are really panicking down here. You might want to get a grip on that. Ezno out."

The Director slammed his fist on the nearest console, as new flashing lights continued to appear on the damage control feed, along with more alarms, and reports of casualties. Right then, he angrily considered telling the guards in the prisoner wing to kill Inali, but he calmed himself and decided against it. She still had value as a hostage if things went badly. Besides, the guards were mainly raw recruits who weren't implanted, and might not obey an order to murder a helpless prisoner. It would lead to questions that he didn't want answered.

The Director brought up the touchscreen display that managed the biotic implants for the station's other infiltrator squads. He brought the schematics up for each of their neural implants, and gave them a suggestion message that was a simple one: The renegade infiltrator squad attacking the station is a group of traitors. Terminate them with extreme prejudice.

...

The Viking squad fought its way through the station. For the Cerberus defenders, the situation grew increasingly out of control. The team was moving too quickly through the rooms and corridors, and they outclassed the few troops and mechs that could engage them at any given time. Even the other infiltrator squads hadn't fared well. One group of infiltrators tried attacking the squad from the rear, and ended up with one dead infiltrator and three injured. Another infiltrator squad had attempted to ambush them by hiding in a lab, using their tactical cloaks, and lying in wait. Randall's squad had sensed the ambush, and then flooded areas of the room with biotic storm bubbles until they found the hiding Cerberus troops. Then they used biotic attacks and well-aimed gunfire until the hiding infiltrators were too wounded to fight, and had to withdraw.

Reports from the medical bay to the Director's command staff also told the story of the battle. Dozens of soldiers, including the infiltrator squads, had been wounded, though only a few killed. The medical bay chief doctor had said, "It's almost as though these renegades don't want to kill our troops. It's like they keep beating them up to the point where they can no longer fight, but they're trying hard not to kill them."

When the Director asked if the chief doctor had anything else to report, he said that his doctors and nurses had overheard some disturbing things from the wounded.

Some wounded soldiers said that they had trained alongside Randall Ezno, Jordan Jensen and the rest of their squad. They knew the team's fighting ability already, and now they had been on the receiving end of it. They had no idea why they were still alive, and it made no sense that the team hadn't finished them.

Another soldier kept saying that things didn't add up. If Randall and Jordan's team was a group of traitors, there were much easier things for them to do, and safer places for them to go, than to attack an entire Cerberus station all by themselves.

The wounded infiltrator squads had all reported unusual headaches that began around the same time the fighting started. Not only that, but the sergeants who led the squads said that some of their troops were strangely, incredibly eager to fight and fought recklessly. Some of them even refused to follow orders to fall back when they were badly injured.

Finally, the _Ares_ station's medical staff heard hushed whispers among the wounded that the renegade squad had taunted them during the fighting, probably trying to confuse them. The renegade squad said that they were trying to rescue their handler, who was being held in the station's prisoner wing. Supposedly their handler found out a grim secret that Cerberus wanted to keep from its own troops. They even tried to convince the other infiltrator teams that the Director was using biotic implants as a means of mind control.

 _All that will go away once these people are dead,_ thought the Director. He impatiently looked at the damage control feed again. He studied it for several minutes, and sensed a danger. But he wasn't sure why.

 _Something isn't right_ , he thought. _If Ezno wanted to take the station, he and his squad would be heading here, for the bridge. But these reports of gunfire for the last hour show them moving from room to room a few decks away. Where are they going?_

As if on cue, the bridge officer who handled Network Security jumped from his station and ran towards the Director. He was apoplectic. He cried, "Director! I've been making sure that the renegades, these 'Vikings,' don't try to hack into our computers. Because if they plugged in, they could dismantle hardware safeguards, they could send commands and take over our network –"

The Director didn't bother to hide his irritation. "I know that, you stammering fool. Every mech, every soldier we can spare is defending the access points to the bridge, the station's power reactors, _and_ the data core. I haven't missed anything. What exactly is your problem?"

"The problem, Director…," he pointed frantically at the damage control feed. "Look where that squad has been going." He pointed along the path of reported gunshots and casualties. It was like following a river of destruction and damage. But still, the squad didn't seem to be moving anywhere near a vital area.

Impatiently, the Director asked, "Would you mind telling me what I should see here? It looks more to me like they've gotten lost. There's nothing important anywhere near them."

The Network Security officer quickly changed the damage control feed from a two-dimensional top-down map, to a 3D perspective of the station. Then he pointed. "No, not on that deck, Director! But at last report, that squad…was in an engineering lab only two decks directly above the data core. And these aren't ordinary soldiers. Aren't the infiltrators equipped with cutting beams for urban assault? Because if they do, from where they are, I think they could cut right through the floor…," He saw the Director's jaw begin to drop as he completed his thought.

The Director toggled his com. "I want every available trooper, every available mech at the data core!"

...

The Director had just begun to give his order when the Viking squad finished using their cutting beams to burn through and enter the _Ares_ station's data core through the ceiling. The six security mechs who had been in the room quickly collapsed into piles of scrap under biotic salvos from Aussie, Mudbug and Jordan.

Jordan and Loki ran in, and quickly plugged their electronic warfare packs directly into towers of hardware that served as the data core. The data core did much more than archive the station's records. The data core was _Ares_ station's brain and central nervous system. Electronic commands sent from the bridge, or anywhere on the station, were routed through the data core for processing. Anyone hacking directly into the data core not only could delete years of research from its archive, but they could also take control of the station away from the bridge. They could directly access Communications, and contact the Alliance, or the Turian Hierarchy, or anyone. They could lock down entire sections of the station, or open them up, including the prisoner wing where Inali and dozens of asari, turian and krogan prisoners were being held.

While Jordan and Loki began to hack the station's network, the rest of the team locked the doors to the room, and took up defensive positions. "We need to hold this room until Jordan and Loki call the cavalry," said Randall. "If the Director hasn't guessed what we've been up to, for sure somebody has figured it out by now. We'll have company soon."

Within a minute, Jordan began to nod, and she gave a wide smile. "I've just locked out the bridge. We've just cut the Director off. If he wants to give an order, he has to send us a memo, or give the order in person."

Soon afterward, Loki spoke up. His tone was businesslike, but he was smiling. "I've accessed the comm relay for the station. Sending FTL transmissions now. "

Jordan asked, "Which frequencies?"

Loki glanced and responded, "All of them, Jordan. We're blasting this message in the clear, and we'll keep send those messages as a repeating pulse. There's no hiding this station now. Cerberus' secret is out."

Within minutes, over a dozen security mechs attempted to fight their way in. Randall, Bowler, Aussie and Mudbug riddled them with gunfire and biotic attacks, reducing them to ever-increasing piles of wreckage that slowed down the other mechs that followed them.

Jordan looked over her shoulder. "Randall! I've just accessed the prisoner wing. According to this, Inali's alive. She's still under guard, but the Director didn't kill her. I guess we've been keeping him busy."

Randall closed his eyes for a moment, and said, "Thank God." Other members of the team glanced at each other. Some raised fists for a moment, others nodded and smiled. Then they returned to shooting more of the attacking mechs.

After a couple of minutes, Loki looked up from his console. "I have incoming FTL transmissions from the Turian fleet, and the Alliance. They have our coordinates. They're sending cruisers, and any other ships in the area that they can contact!"

Jordan laughed out loud. "I wish I could see their looks on the bridge right now."

Randall said, "By the way…could one of you two be a pal, and tell these mechs to stop shooting at us?"


	6. What Goes Around

The Network Security officer's face was ashen. "They've locked us out, Director. The comm relay is sending high-power pulses on all frequencies. And now, it looks like they've already contacted the turians, and the Alliance."

The Director felt like he was sinking into a pit. The station, he already knew, was doomed. It was made to hide in deep space, not fight off cruisers and assaults by the hundreds. He struggled to think. He focused for a moment and said, "We…we have to keep our research from falling into enemy hands."

The other bridge officers were already beginning to rise from their seats. One of them slowly said, "We can't get to the data core…we can't destroy any of it. When they take this station, everyone will find out what we've been doing here. All our experiments."

 _Ares_ station's first officer said, "Director, we have to get out of here. Every second we wait…they'll find out what we've done to prisoners. The turians…the asari…"

"…and the krogans…" said another. "What if they hand us over to the krogans?"

Finally, it was as though the word "krogans" were a trigger word that sent them all over the edge. The words hung in the air for a moment, and then the command staff of _Ares_ station lost its composure, and began to flee the bridge in a blind panic, scrambling over the consoles and chairs.

"Get back here! All of you! Now! I'll have you all shot!" shouted the Director. His face was red with rage as everyone scrambled past him, shouting obscenities, orders and insults that no one heard. He stood alone on the bridge, as though he insanely believed that he still could control the station all by himself. Then he fled the bridge too. They all ran helter-skelter for the hangar, desperate to find any shuttles that could still fly.

…

The team made freeing Inali its first order of business after shutting down the security mechs.

First, the team locked out as many troops as they could, making themselves a clear path to the _Ares_ station prisoner wing. Randall, Jordan and Loki went to the prisoner wing, and found only one young soldier standing guard. He raised his rifle, but there was no menace in it. He hesitated and said, "You're infiltrators…and that turian…you're those renegades, aren't you? Stand back…I have orders…"

Randall said, "Soldier, safe that weapon before you hurt yourself. We're not here to hurt you. We're here for Inali Renata. Now, why don't you hand over your rifle and let her out. Either that, or we'll do it ourselves. It's your call, but the medical bay is busy enough."

Knowing a hopeless situation when he saw one, the soldier handed over his weapon.

"Smart lad," said Jordan.

"He'll go far. Definitely Admiral material," said Loki.

The soldier opened the door to Inali's cell. Inali and Randall rushed toward each other, embraced tightly, and kissed. Jordan and Loki stepped away to allow them the moment, and gestured to the perplexed Cerberus soldier to do the same.

...

After capturing the _Ares_ data core and freeing Inali, the team had soon unlocked the records that showed how Cerberus was trying to use biotic implants to control their troops. Realizing the shocking truth that Cerberus had betrayed them all, the soldiers surrendered, believing that they would be better off in the hands of the Alliance. All of the infiltrator squads on _Ares_ station personally came to Inali, and she gladly deactivated their biotic implants.

Over the next several days, the Turian Hierarchy cruisers _Resolve_ and _Endurance_ arrived at _Ares_ station, along with the Systems Alliance cruiser _Tipperary_. After securing the station, it became clear that the capture of _Ares_ station would go down as one of the most stunning intelligence coups in history. In the prisoner wing, they found dozens of asari, turian and krogan prisoners. All of them reported experiments and mistreatment that would lead to charges of war crimes for the Director, his command staff, and most of the scientists who had fled the station. Additional ships were scouring the sector for them.

At Randall and Jordan's urging, Loki asked the captains of the _Resolve_ , _Endurance_ and _Tipperary_ to allow the remaining members of Cerberus to hold a small memorial service for Slingshot and the Cerberus soldiers who had died defending the station. The captains grudgingly agreed. One Alliance guard admitted, "I never would have expected something dignified and respectful like that, from a group like…well, like Cerberus."

...

Randall, Inali, and the rest of the squad gathered in the _Ares_ hangar bay, awaiting transport to the _Tipperary_. Some of them sat on small storage crates, while others stood. Randall sat with an arm around Inali, who rested her head on his shoulder.

"You know what, Ran?" said Inali, "That was such a dumb rule that Cerberus had, about not allowing handlers to have relationships with their soldiers."

Jordan glanced in their direction. "The hell you say. You really think so? Well, we've known all along that you two were an item." Inali looked at Randall, who only shrugged and smiled. Inali glanced around, and saw the squad mates nodding in agreement.

Randall and Inali both blushed. "Busted," said Inali. "What gave us away?"

"More like, 'What didn't give you away?'" said Bowler. "He'd be in a great mood after he saw you. You'd be in a great mood if you saw him. Hell, the Sarge was in a great mood if somebody so much as mentioned you, for chrissakes."

Inali's eyes widened in mock horror. "You, Ran? No. No way, not you."

"Lies, all lies," said Randall. "Don't listen to a word."

"Hell," said Aussie, "I've had girlfriends tell me that I'm clueless, but even I picked up on that."

"He's clueless all right," said Mudbug, "But yeah, we saw it."

Randall then surprised Bowler, Aussie and Mudbug by saying, "By the way… Jordan and I think you're all way overdue for a name change."

The surprised squad mates all looked at Randall and Jordan. Bowler said, "You think we're ready to ditch the call signs, Sarge?"

"Ready?" said Jordan, "How much combat do you think you need to see? Besides, we're not exactly in Cerberus anymore. In our book, you're veterans. Bowler, Aussie, Mudbug, you can go back to being Matt, Gus, and Tony. Congrats, guys."

"Great," said Bowler, as he fist-bumped Aussie. "Just in time to go an Alliance prison colony."

"I don't think that'll happen," said a familiar voice. The team glanced up and saw Loki. They stood up, amused and impressed, as they saw him wearing a turian military uniform. "I'm here to see all of you off. And the captains of the _Resolve_ and the _Endurance_ both tell me that the _Tipperary_ 's captain is lobbying with his superiors to recruit you all to serve in the Alliance military, not send you to a prison colony.

"You've got to be kidding," said Inali. "We're Cerberus. Former Cerberus. They see us as terrorists, guilty by association. What goes around, comes around. Do you really think they can pull enough strings to make that happen?"

"Oh, I like your chances," said Loki. "You're not the first to defect from Cerberus, and you won't be the last. The Hierarchy and the Alliance are tough as nails, but they're no fools. They know it's not that simple. Look around, look what you've done here. You've done them all a great service. Besides, it would be a shame to waste such good talent by putting you all in prison."

The group walked over to the turian. Inali said, "Well Loki, I wish we all met in a different way. But if it wasn't for your help, I don't even want to think about what would've happened to us."

Other members of the squad agreed. Randall said to Loki, "We're here for you, Commander Tiron."

Loki responded, "Please. Call me by my first name Canvus, or Loki, but there's no need for any of you to call me 'Commander.' By the way, if any of you are ever on the Citadel, you need to visit Rodam Expeditions. It's run by a cousin of mine, his name is Etarn. I'll give him all of your names. He'll probably offer you a first rate discount if you ever need weapons or a combat vest."

Inali looked at Randall. "Hey Ran, I like the sound of that!"

Eyebrows were raised all around, including by Loki.

Randall smiled. "I told you guys, she can handle herself."

...

The Director and his former command staff silently regarded each other. They sat near the bridge of the same Cerberus freighter that had dropped off a cargo shuttle for _Ares_ station days before. After fleeing the _Ares_ station, the Director and his command staff had taken over the freighter at gunpoint, and then killed its crew. They didn't want to leave anyone behind who could identify who they were, or where they had been. Now, they were going…somewhere. Anywhere. Any planet where they could establish false identities, dispose of the ship that had brought them there, and remove all traces of their lives with Cerberus.

The Director hadn't shaved or slept since the day before the squad attacked the station. He brushed his two-day old beard, which felt like sandpaper. "Randall Ezno…Inali Renata…I swear to God, I will kill that whole squad, starting with those two," he whispered. Then he drank from a bottle of whiskey that he'd stolen from a crate. He beared his teeth as the whiskey burned his throat.

The Director's former first officer overheard him as he sat nearby. He rolled his eyes and said, "Whatever." Then he got up and walked away, and reached for a whiskey bottle of his own. Between drinks, he said, "We should all look up the black market rate for plastic surgery."

A long range sensor on the freighter's bridge began to beep. A new contact was approaching at high speed. Moments later, a FTL transmission came in, announced by an audio speaker.

"Unidentified freighter, this is the Alliance warship _SSV Ragnar._ Your configuration matches a freighter suspected in use by Cerberus. You will stand to and prepare to be boarded. Unidentified freighter, this is the _SSV Ragnar_. Acknowledge."

People near the Director shook their heads, tossed their hands into the air, and threw papers off of nearby desks in anger. Others punched nearby bulkheads and swore. The station's former Network Security officer slumped in his chair, shrugged and said under his breath, "At least they're not krogans."

The Director only stared sullenly ahead, then guzzled another long drink. He finished his whiskey bottle, and then threw it over his shoulder. It bounced noisily away, spraying drops of whiskey on the floor. Then he looked up at the ceiling.

"The _SSV Ragnar,_ " he groused. "King of the Vikings. That just figures."


End file.
